Find the AAAnswers

WCG

overview

An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a balloon-like bulge in the body’s main artery that can burst unexpectedly often with fatal consequences. As the third-leading cause of sudden death in men over 60, AAA often has no symptoms and only 10-25 percent of people will survive if their aneurysm ruptures

Never heard of AAA? That’s exactly the problem. More than one million people are living with an undiagnosed AAA, making it a silent killer because people don’t realize they are at-risk or that a simple, painless ultrasound screening can help save lives. The situation is critical – an integrated public awareness campaign was created to generate broad disease visibility and drive at-risk individuals to assess their risk and get screened. The program is supported by a Coalition of five medical societies focused on the prevention, detection and treatment of AAA. Sponsorship is provided by Medtronic.

Objectives

By elevating the discussion of AAA, the ultimate goal is to create a movement on par with the likes of the Go Red for Women campaign. To do this, we plan on moving individuals over a continuum of engagement from awareness to assessment to action and ultimately ambassadorship. To get there we need to:

  • Objective 1: Raise awareness and generate compelling visibility for AAA as a silent killer
  • Objective 2: Create a call-to-action and sustained response around the health risks of AAA
  • Objective 3: Drive at-risk individuals to assess risk & get screened

Target Audience

Primary audience:

  • At-risk consumers – age 60+, smokers, family history & other cardiovascular risk factors
  • Friends and family of at-risk consumers

Secondary audience:

  • Vascular surgeons, technologists and referring healthcare professionals

Research

To better understand the AAA landscape, quantitative and qualitative research was conducted, including:

  • Interviews with medical professionals regarding screening gaps. Professionals included: vascular surgeons, cardiologists, PCPs, advocacy leaders and hospital administrators
  • A patient survey of 250 at-risk men to understand awareness
  • A social media audit to take a pulse on the dynamics of the AAA online community
  • Focus group testing to determine the messaging and spokespeople that best resonate with the target audience

Based on the research – and the sheer number of preventable deaths each year from AAA – it became clear that there was a significant knowledge gap among physicians and those at-risk

Planning

As a result of the research, our strategic plan formed:

  • Seize the opportunity to create not just a one-time spike in awareness and screening, but a grassroots movement that would keep AAA firmly on the map
  • Employ a multi-faceted, sustainable communication approach that goes national and grassroots
  • Harness the power of social and community networks to create surround-sound messaging for those at-risk
  • Establish a commitment by invested third-parties to lead AAA patient and physician education and action
  • Develop strong national partnerships and cross-promotions with a large pharmacy retailer to scale awareness and execution

Execution

A creative campaign platform was developed to deliver the “answers” needed to drive improvements in awareness and screening:

  • Created iconic campaign platform to rally behind – Campaign named “Find the AAAnswers”. Created a symbol – orange suspenders – to call attention to the implications of AAA and provide brand essence.
  • Enlisted a recognizable face – A former professional football quarterback serves as the national spokesperson due to his father having AAA.
  • Created an online experience to educate and drive action – Interactive web portal (www.FindtheAAAnswers.org) includes “Share Your Story”, screening pledges, risk assessment quiz, and DoctorFinder directory.
  • Employed a variety of communication tools to surround the community – Created patient educational materials. Drove online discussions via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter with access to online PSAs, Widgets, Podcasts and Webisodes.
  • Partnered with a pharmacy retailer to scale and sustain program – Partnered with a national pharmacy retailer to drive AAA education, risk-assessment or screening events in more than 1,000 stores nationwide

Results

Since launching in September 2009, the campaign has generated a message and call-to-action that is generating behavior change:

Objective 1: Awareness

  • More than 2,300 media articles and over 125+ million impressions including – WSJ Blog, US News & World Report, Good Morning America Health, Larry King Live blog, The Rachel Ray Show, Vascular Disease Management, Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness
  • Over 25,000 physicians reached via Coalition communications
  • More than 125,000 brochures, 5,000 pins and 500 suspenders distributed to the patient/at-risk community
  • AAA literature featured in more than 1,000 pharmacy stores

Objective 2: Call-to-Action

  • Website generates more than 12,000 visitors per month
  • Visitors spend an average of 3+ minutes exploring site
  • More than 1,300 online patient ambassadors share their AAA stories and help spread the word
  • Nearly 1,000 vascular health professionals enrolled in DoctorFinder or signed-up to get involved

Objective 3: Risk Assessment & Screening

  • Nearly 10,000 individuals have assessed risk via online tool
  • More than 7,800 searches for a local doctor via DoctorFinder directory
  • Screened more than 1,600 patients and diagnosed 71 AAAs (4.4% prevalence); received more than 4,500 phone calls and visitors to booth to learn about risk and ask for more information